Jennifer Latham

Some bodies won't stay buried. Some stories need to be told. When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past... and the present. Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what's right the night Tulsa burns. Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham's lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important question about the complex state of US race relations - both yesterday and today.

Dreamland Burning

Amanda Kordeliski

4.5 
A fabulous read that weaves past with present in a compelling way. Fast paced with great twists and turns. Latham paints a picture of racism in present day America and highlights the similarities between modern day Tulsa and the Tulsa of 1921. What keeps me from giving this book five stars is the portrayal of Will as half Osage/half white. I think the "charitable" way he and his family is treated by the KKK is not completely plausible and have a hard time believing his father would be accepted in the white majority while being married to an Indian woman and having a child with her. A great story with excellent foreshadowing that will leave many teen readers surprised at the ending.

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Outstanding historical thriller! Should be included on every #ReadWoke reading list.

Lisa W.

4.5 actually! 
I’m so glad I pushed through to finish this before the end of 2020 because who knows when I would have made it to reading this book. Marvelous! 

This book surprised me for a multitude of reasons. 
 This is my first dual perspectives in different timelines and I never read historical fiction. However this was executed really well on both accounts. What surprised me even more was not that it was written by a white female author but that I didn’t focus on that while I was reading. I didn’t search for bias or screwed storytelling. I didn’t look for inconsistencies. Nothing struck me as out of the norm. 

I could classify this as a thriller historical fiction with a bit of murder mystery. As usual with anything centering Jim Crow era, I find my blood pressure rising. I was amazed at how skilled Will became at weaseling out of terrible situations and his ability to do so on the spot. I patted myself on the back once I realized who the corpse was before it was revealed. I found myself unsatisfied with the death of certain characters but I accepted them none the less. 

I gained knowledge of certain history with Native American relations, which I appreciated because that’s a large part of Oklahoma history. I learned more about the spark of the race riot rather than just the aftermath. I liked the respect that was given to an asexual character,a former drug addict and a homeless man. They were given validity in the world and shone their contributions to their community. 

Overall a great read!

Emily

I don’t believe that history holds easy answers or simple lessons, because those answers and lessons are stretched out over thousands—millions—of untold stories. But I do believe that if we seek those stories out, and if we listen to them and talk to each other with open hearts and minds, we can start to heal. I believe that good people working together can create meaningful change.

I picked this up as a way to participate in BooksandLaLa's buzzwordathon challenge for this year! I'm challenging myself to read one book with the word for each month in the title, and for January that happened to be the word 'dream.' I'm so glad that I decided to participate, because otherwise I might not have gotten to read this wonderful book.

I think I've figured out what I like in historical fiction. It seems that I prefer YA, multiple POV (and/or timeline), with an element of mystery. The way this book was written reminded me so much of The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes, and I'd highly recommend that anyone who liked one should pick up the other.

This book is paced absolutely perfectly. It manages to weave together two timelines so seamlessly, while not causing them to become meddled or confusing. The Tulsa race riot was not something I'd ever heard about before, and I'm grateful that this book has now introduced me to the topic. The dual timelines were also an excellent way to demonstrate how history still very much affects the world today.

I don't think I'm the best person to evaluate how well-portrayed the representation and dialogue around race relations in this book is, so I'd encourage you to read reviews from Black readers for more insight on that.

I personally found this to be a very powerful read, and I'm eager to pick up more historical fiction, as it seems to be a genre I neglect but very much enjoy.

Jeni Enjaian

As soon as I saw this book on the nominee list for the South Carolina Young Adult Book Award, I jumped at the chance to read it. I could not believe that this book just so happened to be on the list that I consulted immediately after I listened to an amazing podcast series about the Tulsa Race Massacre and decided to incorporate it into my curriculum (teaching ELA and Social Studies) next year.

I eagerly downloaded it as soon as the kindle version became available at my library.

When I first started reading, however, I almost hesitated. Latham's narrative gets off to a rocky start. Her first portrayal of Will in his flashback chapter garnered no sympathy and felt like a trope.

I also could not readily identify with Rowan at the beginning. I could not figure out who she was and how she related to the character on the cover.

After a few point of view changes, I really got into the book. Each chapter started dropping hints here and there to help the reader figure out what actually happened which is especially compelling for those who know the history. I absolutely love the fact that Latham set the book her. This corner of history has all but been forgotten even by many who live in Tulsa. I knew nothing about the history until I read another good young adult novel, "Tulsa Burning," and even then, that book takes the reader only partially into the scope of the tragedy.

Back to the book...

Throughout the book both Will and Rowan grow and mature as characters, just exactly what the protagonists should do, something few protagonists ever do, especially in young adult fiction, unfortunately.

I ended up absolutely loving this book and will definitely conduct a book talk on it when we come to that point in the curriculum.

A compelling dual-narrated tale from Jennifer Latham that questions how far we've come with race relations. Some bodies won't stay buried. Some stories need to be told. When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the present and the past. Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what's right the night Tulsa burns. Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham's lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important questions about the complex state of US race relations--both yesterday and today.

Makayla Reed

Wow. This isn't exactly what I was expecting, but I think this is a very important read.

Considering this book takes place between the past and present, it almost felt like they could be one in the same. Not in the fact that they felt like Rowan and William were similar people, but in the fact that the violence towards black people continue to be horrific. If you turn on the news daily, you can see the white nationalism that runs through America's veins.

I thought this story was very well done. Not only does it give you a history lesson of what happened in Tulsa, OK in 1921 that no history class will tell you about, but it is a story of tragedy and hope in humanity. The hope that at least one person will be good and save your life, in more ways than one.

Besides the story itself, the characters were diverse with Rowan and William both being biracial. It was also nice to see an asexual character being represented.

Hope Brockway

This book was stunning and poignant and heartbreaking all in one.

Casie Blevins

Flawlessly plotted and insightful, Latham brought both modern day Tulsa and 1921 Tulsa alive. This was one of my favorite books of the year. 
I can attest as a graduate of Tulsa's school system that we did NOT learn about this brutal era of Tulsa's history in 9th grade Oklahoma History class in the 90s. The textbook we used was old when I was a teen and the teacher was at least twice as old again as the book. She was likely a part of the generation that was hushing it up and that makes me sad. I had no idea that the Greenwood district had any history at all, much less one this horrid. 
I am thankful for this book (and other media like Lovecraft Country) for their unflinching portrayals of the 1921 Race Riot/Massacre. We need more truths like these.

Yeldah Yousfi

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING! RECOMMEND TO EVERYONE!

I read this book in less than 2 days, it was that good! I was pretty surprised since it had been such a long time I'd found a book I could not put down. 

So let's get started as to why this book is amazing, firstly it has so many diverse characters, which is very important to me personally.

The book has 2 POVs and the first is of a biracial 17-y/o girl (dad is white and mom is african-american). The second is only a biracial 17-y/o boy (dad is white and mom is native american).
Oh and there's an asexual character as well because why not!

The research for literally everything (from the history to exploring sexuality) was done with such respect and heart. The main characters (even many side ones) felt like real human beings. The plot was framed around the Tulsa Riots, something as a Canadian I hadn’t heard about but is a relevant story that needs to be told because many ppl in America don’t know much about it either. 

This was one book made me agree even more about the need of the ‪#‎blacklivesmatter‬ movement. It made me tear up a lot, it made me afraid about what’s happening right now in the States but also happy and inspired because this book is a clear message that there’s still hope and we can get through it together. 

*Received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Dreamland Burning

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